SCORE Journal - The Official Publication of SCORE Off-Road Racing
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The Rough Rider Ford Explorer John Swift Drove The Class 6 SUV To Multiple SCORE Class Victories By Dan Sanchez and Larry Saavedra For off-road racer John Swift, his career began long before he ever got behind the wheel. His dad, Ray Swift, worked for Vic Hickey as a mechanic on vehicles like the Baja Boot and Olds Banshee. “My dad’s work with Vic allowed me to attend several Baja races in the late ’60s,” said Swift. “I was 12-years old then, but I knew off-road racing was something I had to do. I wanted to race in Mexico. I got my first ride in 1975 with my dad in a two-seater buggy, racing at the SCORE Baja 500. It was a thrill, but I wanted to be in the driver’s seat.” Swift’s move into becoming one of the factory Ford Rough Rider racers started with him gaining experience at age sixteen. “I was working with Glen Harris, who was with the Mazda program,” said Swift. “He started a short-course team and I drove an old resurrected Walker Evans truck, transformed into a Class 7. From there, I got involved with Dick Landfield in the 1980s with his racing program, and it evolved into building my own Ford Ranger trucks.” Landfield was instrumental in developing the Rough Rider program and gathered together some of the top and upcoming racers at the time, to create teams for various classes. Landfield asked Swift to head the Ford Explorer platform. “Dick knew I was good at racing the Ford Rangers, but the Simon Brothers were chosen to continue that platform within the Rough Riders,” said Swift. “That was 1991, which was also the first year of the Rough Rider program and the first year of the Ford Explorer.” The SUV is still considered one of the best-selling SUVs in North America and debuted in March 1990 as a 1991 model in the U.S. “I hired Bill Savage to build the race platform for the Explorer and his chassis is the same one on the Explorer I own today,” said Swift. “The Rough Rider Ford Explorer is the winningest of all the Rough Rider vehicles.” Within SCORE Baja racing alone, Swift and the Ford Explorer won the SCORE Baja 500 in 1991, 1992, and 1993 in Class 6. They also won the SCORE Baja 1000 in 1991 and 1992 in Class 6. “All of the wins we had were memorable,” said Swift. “The Explorer always ran great, and the toughest races are always the most memorable because you don’t always think you’re going to win or even finish. When you do, it’s a huge accomplishment. But perhaps the most memorable race for me is winning the 1992 SCORE Baja 1000. We not only won our class, but we finished fourth overall– something unheard of for a Class 6 vehicle at that time. We ran up with guys who were essentially racing SCORE Trophy Trucks like Dan Smith and Rob MacCachren. I think there was even a Walker Evans Dodge in the top three, and we finished fourth. It was simply amazing to be there with Dino and to win that race together.” Swift’s longtime friend, Dino Puega, was crew chief and navigator during the Rough Rider years. Puega suffered spinal injuries during a rollover in a 1995 race and later passed away at age forty-eight, on March 27th, 2013. “We had a great time racing the Explorer, but it wasn’t all easy,” said Swift. “We had great competition from the Jeep effort headed by Curt LeDuc. He was fun to race with, and we had raced together before when he moved here from back east. I consider Curt one of my good friends.” The Ford Ranger in Swift’s corral is the same vehicle he raced with back in the 1990s. The SUV uses a factory V6 engine, as it had to be the same as what came with the vehicle, but this engine has a bit more power than the factory Ford Explorers on the street. “At that time, the Fords running in NASCAR were also using the V6 engine, and the one in our Explorer is one of those engines that made a lot more power,” said Swift. “The transmission is a Ford C6 and it all still holds up to this day.” Swift races the Explorer in vintage off-road races with his son. “The SUV still has a Ford nine-inch rear axle and Bilstein shocks, just like it did in the ’90s.” The truck still runs on a set of racing Alcoa wheels and 35x12.5R15 BFGoodrich All-Terrain T/A KOR2+ off-road racing tires. Inside, the truck has a set of Mastercraft safety seats and harnesses. The dash has an array of Autometer gauges and a couple of spare ignition coils mounted to the transmission tunnel. Swift’s Ford Explorer isn’t a street SUV modified for racing. It’s a full tube-chassis race car with body panels and a full-racing suspension. The truck still sounds awesome and runs fast, as Swift and his son are always ready to take it out to a vintage or local off-road race. “The Rough Rider program will probably go down in history as the most successful factory off-road racing team,” said Swift. “It was a blessing for me to be a part of it and I’m happy I can still take this truck out and race with my son and daughter.” Swift returned to SCORE racing on and off over the past few years, racing with Dave Westham in Class 8 and winning the class at the 50th SCORE Baja 1000 in 2017. “We ran Dave’s Class 8 truck with Randy Salmont and it was so much fun,” said Swift. “We tried racing the same truck again at the 2020 SCORE Baja 1000 in the SCORE Trophy Truck Legend Class, but came up short. We are planning on the 2021 SCORE Baja 1000, but this time with one of my SCORE Trophy Trucks that we built in 2015. Hopefully, Dave, Randy, and I will have better luck this time around.”